People, Places and Events: Journalism by Martin Green

By Martin Green

Martin Green is a retiree/free-lance writer living in Roseville, California. In 1991, the year after he retired, he started writing articles for a weekly alternative newspaper in Sacramento, Suttertown News.. In the same year, he began free-lancing for the Neighbors section of the Sacramento Bee, contributing over 100 articles until Neighbors was discontinued in 2002.. Since 2000, Hes been writing for a monthly newspaper, the Sun Senior News, which goes to over 10,000 households in two retirement communities, Sun City Roseville (where he lives) and Sun City Lincoln Hills. He currently does two monthly features, Observations and Favorite Restaurants.

This book is a collection of all, or almost all, of Martins journalistic pieces. It starts with his first story for Suttertown News, about how a water district was coping with a then years-long drought, and ends with a piece he wrote about his father for the Sun Senior News. The stories include profi les of people such as David Freeman, then head of SMUD; two notable writers in Davis, Kim Stanley Robinson and Karen Joy Fowler; a number of artists, musicians and other writers; many active senior citizens, and survivors of Pearl Harbor. They also cover places such as art galleries, restaurants, museums, coffee houses and swim and tennis clubs, and events such as the Elk Grove Strauss Festival, the Folsom rodeo and the first Saturday Night Art Walk.

In addition to his journalism, Martin has had over 200 short stories published in online magazines and has so far self-published three collections of these stories (2006, 2007 and 2008) as well as a longer work, One Year in Retirement (2009) and a collection of his Observations (2010). He has been married to Beverly (a water-color artist) for 46 years, has three sons (David, Michael and Christopher), three grandsons (Mason, Morgan and Logan), one granddaughter (Stephanie) and two cats (Bun-Bun and Shandyman).

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Apr 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462007141

Book preview

Contents

FOREWORD

SUTTERTOWN NEWS

HOW ONE DISTRICT IS COPING WITH DROUGHT

RUSSIANS IN CARMICHAEL

THE CITY AS AN OUTDOOR GALLERY

LUNCHTIME CRUISING

YOUR FAVORITE ADVENTURES

A RESPITE FROM THE CITY

GALLERY’S SOBERING DISPLAY

FALL ART FRENZY

FOR THE RECORD

METAL GIANTS

CARRIE MARKEL, ARTIST

ATCHIVAL FRAMING GALLERY

SECOND SATURDAY ART WALK

THE CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART

DALE REINHARD

THE BIKE MUSEUM

WE SENIORS

DAN FIELD AND HIS ELECTRIC CAR

HARRY BRIGHT, BASEBALL PLAYER

JOHNNY HEARTSMAN

RACHEL HOLLAND

CHINESE LION DANCING

LIONESS BOOKS

LLAMAS

FESTA ITALIANA

COFFEE HOUSES (Excerpts)

RUSH HAVEN COFFEE HOUSE, FAIR OAKS (Excerpts)

THE FAIR OAKS COFFEE HOUSE AND DELI (Excerpts)

LAS CO-MADRES

GILDA IRIARTE

THE MEN’S MOVEMENT (Excerpts)

LOW-INCOME HOUSING

UNSUNG HEROES

FAVORITE RESTAURANTS

DAVID FREEEMAN AND SMUD

NEIGHBORS

THE TOWE FORD MUSEUM

STATE FAIR COUNTY EXHIBITS

LEAGUE OF CARMICHAEL ARTISTS

CARMICHAEL PARK TENNIS PLAYERS

ETHEL BANGERT

MIMI FOGG WILSON, FAIR OAKS ARTIST

HARMONY ARTS MOBILE UNIT

COMBELLACK’S IN PLACERVILLE

DEAN NELSON, CARMICHAEL JAZZ MUSICIAN

DIANE DAVIDSON AND SWAN BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

McDONALD’S AT ARDEN AND HOWE

KATIE MAXWELL, CARMICHAEL WRITER

GARY PAINE, ARTIST

GLEN OAKS SWIM AND TENNIS CLUB, CARMICHAEL

HAROLD SCHNEIDER, AUBURN WRITER AND TEACHER

IDA KRENZIN, OWNER OF THE BUTTON SHOPPE

JAN DAHL

CARLA LOWE

JULIA CAIRNS, DAVIS ARTIST

KITES IN CARMICHAEL

KIM STANLEY ROBINSON, DAVIS SCI-FI WRITER

KAREN JOY FOWLER, DAVIS WRITER

MICHAEL XEPOLEAS, ART GALLERY OWNER/OPERATOR

OLIVE JIMISON AND A NEW LEGACY

PEGGY SWEET, SENIOR TENNIS PLAYER

DANEK’S BAKERY, CARMICHAEL

THE STRAUSS FESTIVAL. ELK GROVE

SUSAN LONGENECKER

ORANGEVALE COUNTRY FAIRE AND POW WOW DAYS

SENIOR POETS

TRAVEL OUTFITTERS

ASH-CAN ART GALLERY, CITRUS HEIGHTS

BETTY PERRY

PEARL AND VICTOR SELINSKY

RALPH FREUND, AMERICAN RIVER TENNIS COACH

CONGREGATION BETH SHALOM, CARMICHAEL

GIVING GARDENERS

NORTHRIDGE COUNTRY CLUB (EXCERPTS)

TOWN & COUNTRY VILLAGE

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS, 1994

BAKERY CHRISTMAS SPECIALTIES

CHRISTMAS GIFT TIME

RESTAURANTS

SPICES RESTAURANT, RANCHO CORDOVA

THE OAK CAFE

FOLSOM ARTISTS

HISTORIC FOLSOM: THE RAILROAD BLOCK RESTORATION & MORE (1995)

FOLSOM LAKE CENTER

THE FOLSOM NEIGHBORHOOD GARDEN CLUB

FOLSOM RODEO, 1999

WINTERIZING HOMES

SACRAMENTO SHADE

TREE CARE IN THE FALL AND WINTER

FAIR OAKS ARTISTS (1997)

THE ART WORKS, FAIR OAKS

FAIR OAKS ART

THE BALDWIN GALLERY, FAIR OAKS VILLAGE

THE CHROMA GALLERY AND SCHOOL OF LIGHT, FAIR OAKS

FAIR OAKS BOOK STORES

KNOW THYSELF BOOKS, FAIR OAKS

TONY SESTITO, PRESIDENT, FAIR OAKS THEATRE FESTIVAL BOARD

LOOMIS, LINCOLN AND ROCKLIN

LOOMIS VET CENTER

LOOMIS FIRE CHIEF ED HORTON

JACK MORRIS, LOOMIS

SIERRA HAY AND FEED, LINCOLN

DR. DAVID DUBIN, LINCOLN

SPRING CREEK FARM, LINCOLN

PILAR MENENDEZ, ROSEVILLE SCULPTOR

OLD TOWN ENTRANCE PARK, ROSEVILLE

PLACER PACERS VOLKSSPORT CLUB, AUBURN (1999)

EVANGELINE JOHNSON, ROSEVILLE ARTIST

CHARLIE SWARTZ, SUN CITY ROSEVILLE

ESTELLE EL-HAI, SUN CITY ROSEVILLE

MARIAN WARD (1999)

JOHN PEARSON, SUN CITY ROSEVILLE ARTIST

JANIS FOGT, ROSEVILLE ARTIST

BARBARA BLABON, ROSEVILLE (SUN CITY) WATERCOLORIST

PAT ABRAHAM, SUN CITY ARTIST

CLEO KOCOL, FIRST-TIME NOVELIST AT AGE 71

VICTORIA BROOKS, ARTIST

FAST FREDDIE’S PIZZERIA, ROSEVILLE

THE DAINTY PASTRY SHOP, ROSEVILLE

PEDDLER’S COVE GIFT SHOP & GALLERY, LOOMIS

BOB KROMREY

KNITWITS

DIANNE BARTLETT

SANDY LeDREW

JACK ROADS, ROSEVILLE PAPIER MACHE ARTIST

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

SUN SENIOR NEWS

TINA GRANT, ARTIST

GLORIA ABBEN

PLEASANT GROVE COMMUNITY CHURCH

SCHOOLHOUSE PARK

ART GERMAN

ROSEVILLE SPCA

PEARL HARBOR SURVIVORS

COMMANDER JOHN C. AHMAN, U.S. NAVY (RET.)

BRIAN CALNAN, WWII RAF Pilot

LINCOLN FARMERS MARKET

INGE WALEN

PETE LEWIS

NORM BOICE, BICYCLIST

SCHOOLHOUSE PARK

THE HARMONICOOTS

LARRY MILLER. GRASS VALLEY

IN MEMORY OF LARRY MILLER

SENIOR SOCIETY OBSERVATIONS

ROSEVILLE PRESS-TRIBUNE

TIMBERS-AT-THE-LODGE RESTAURANT

CITRUS HEIGHTS REGISTER

SUN SENIOR NEWS

FOREWORD

I’ve told the story of how I became a free-lance writer in several other places. So, here’s the abridged (more or less) version. I retired after 27 years with the State of California at the end of 1990. In early January 1991, my wife Beverly and myself went to my retirement lunch at The Firehouse in Old Sacramento. After, we drove to a gift shop on J Street run by a former teacher, Phyl Zeiner, whose aide Beverly had been. Phyl’s shop wasn’t making it; she was having a close-out sale. I knew Phyl wasn’t the type to stay idle so I asked her what she’d be doing next. She said she’d be doing something for the Suttertown News, a weekly alternative paper whose editor, Tim Holt, she knew. Phyl asked what I’d be doing. I said probably playing more tennis. She asked if I’d be interested in doing something for the Suttertown News. I said I might.. She told me she’d let Tim Holt know.

Usually, in a matter such as this, that would been the end of it. A few weeks later, to my surprise, I got a call from Tim Holt. He told me to write a story. A big concern at the time in California was a years-long drought. As I lived in Carmichael, I called the Carmichael Water District. I said I was a reporter for the Suttertown News. I was invited to their office and interviewed the General Manager, a Mr. McGinty, who told me more about the workings of the water system than I’d ever want to know. I wrote a story about what the District was doing to cope with the drought, sent it in, and it appeared in the February 21-28 issue of the Suttertown News. That was the start of my free-lancing career. By the way, the Suttertown News paid no money for its stories.

Sacramento Bee Neighbors was a sort of mini-newspaper, with its own office and staff, that published a weekly section for the different localities in the area, such as Carmichael, Fair Oaks, downtown Sacramento, Davis, Loomis, etc. Neighbors had a feature called My Story, where people submitted something that had happened in their lives. If printed, Neighbors paid $25. After I’d started writing for Suttertown News, Beverly called my attention to this and I submitted a story about a hitch-hiking experience I had when I was a teenager.. I got a letter back saying they’d print it and would I call to give some biographical information I called, gave the information and asked if Neighbors used free-lance writers. They did and what was more they paid $50 a story.

I was referred to the Assignments Editor, Linda Beymer. She said to write a couple of stories and submit them. I wrote a story about senior tennis players, of which I was one, in Carmichael Park and another story about a neighbor who’d become an anti-drug activist. Linda Beymer liked them. This was how I started writing for Neighbors and became a paid free-lance writer. My first story was about the Towe Ford Museum, about which I’d previously written for Suttertown News. My second story was about the county exhibits at the State Fair, thanks to my friend Phill Evans, who was a sculptor in metal and always had a prize-winning exhibit. Then, on September 19, in a special Carmichael insert in Neighbors, which had a color picture of two senior tennis players on its front page, I had my tennis and anti-drug activist stories, plus another story on the Carmichael Art Center. My My Story finally ran in an October Neighbors under the headline: Other Than the Dynamite, Drunken Drier, Trip was Uneventful.

I continued to write for Neighbors for another dozen years, mostly stories assigned to me, some I found on my own. Eventually, the editor for most of my stories was Cathy Locke, who couldn’t have been nicer. When she’d send me a copy of the Neighbors issue in which one of my stories appeared she always wrote a note saying how good it was. At the end of my Neighbors career, they’d gone up to $75 a story.

At the end of 1997, Beverly and I moved from Carmichael to Sun City, a Del Webb retirement community in Roseville, just outside of Sacramento. About two years later, someone from the Sun Senior News, a newspaper that was mailed to Sun City residents at the start of each month, came to interview me. This was because I’d established and was the first president of the New Yorkers club in Sun City. During the course of the interview it came out that I wrote for Neighbors. The interviewer then suggested that I might also write for the Sun Senior News. I wrote a piece I called Observations After Living Two Years in Sun City, It was printed in the March issue and was the start of my Observations column, which I’m still doing. A little later I began another column, Favorite Restaurants, which I’m also still doing. The editor and co-publisher (with her husband) of Sun Senior News, Liz Goldthorpe, is as nice as Cathy Locke and has become a friend. Beverly and I try to have lunch with her every month or two.

Looking over what I’ve written above, I could say that I became a free-lance writer through a series of happy accidents. What if Beverly and I hadn’t gone to Phyl Zeiner’s store after my retirement lunch? What if Beverly hadn’t called my attention to Neighbors’ My Story feature? What if I hadn’t started a New Yorkers club at Sun City? Or, looking at it another way, I was fated, for better or worse, to become a free-lance writer.

At the start of this year, 2011, I decided it would be a good idea to put all of my journalistic pieces into a book, which I’d self-publish, and then I’d have them in one place instead of scattered around. Good idea or not, it proved to be a tedious task, because almost all of these pieces were done on my former computer using a now obsolete language, Wordstar. They’d been transferred to my present computer, almost all of them anyway, but in so doing had little boxes in every line as well as various strange symbols every now and then. So in getting them ready for this book I had to go through each and edit out the boxes and symbols. Worse, I had to track down the stories that hadn’t made it in the transfer and type them out again. Well, I finally did it and the result is this book. I realize that probably no one except myself will be interested in it, but here it is.

A few more things I want to record. In about three years I did over 50 pieces for Suttertown News. In 2004, the paper folded because it ran out of money. I wrote over 100 stories for Neighbors, which in 2002 was merged, or submerged, into the Sacramento Bee, and in effect was no more. As noted above, I’m still doing two monthly columns for the Sun Senior News. In my first few years at Sun City, I wrote a number of other stories for Sun Senior News, the most interesting of which, to my mind, I’ve included here. I also did a dozen stories about Sun City for the Roseville Press-Tribune (which paid a paltry $25 each) and I’ve included a few. I’ve also put in a couple other journalistic pieces which otherwise, I’m sure, would be lost

When I started writing for newspapers, the only thing rule I had was to try to hook the reader with an interesting or provocative opening. After a few stories, I tried to identify a theme, or main point, of a story after the interview. When I got home I’d put down the first few sentences while the interview was still fresh in my mind. I started out using a stenographer’s notebook and jotting down notes in my own peculiar shorthand (and this was before tweeting), I could have switched to a tape recorder when we got one, but by that time I’d gotten used to the notebook and stuck to it.

I quickly learned that people liked to talk about themselves. I started each interview by asking the interviewee where he (or she) was born and raised, then what school and so on, even if the story wasn’t a profile of that person. This, I hoped, put the interviewee at ease and got things going. With rare exceptions, people weren’t curious about the interviewer. Nobody asked what an old geezer like me was doing driving all over the place to write stories.

When in 2002 Neighbors went out of existence I didn’t mind too much as I’d gotten tired by then, after 12 years, of the driving and the interviewing, mostly the driving.. As I recall, I typed out my early pieces and brought them to the Suttertown News office and either brought or mailed them to the Neighbors office. Then I began to e-mail pieces in. Now I can do my two monthly columns at home and e-mail them to the Sun Senior News, which, at my advanced age, suits me fine.

After I retired, becoming a free-lance writer gave my life a structure to replace going to an office five times a week. It was also interesting and, mostly, a lot of fun. The journalistic pieces in this book range from profiles of people such as artists, writers, sculptors, musicians. active seniors, the then head of SMUD, a feed store manager and Pearl Harbor survivors; places such as art galleries, restaurants and tennis clubs; and events such as the Folsom rodeo, the Orangevale Pow-wow, the Strauss Festival and the first Saturday Night Art Walk. Putting together this book brought back many memories and this was one of the reasons for doing it. Now I can always pick it up, browse through the pages, and remember people, places and events. And this is as good a place as any to end this Foreword and go on to the stories.

SUTTERTOWN NEWS

HOW ONE DISTRICT IS COPING WITH DROUGHT

My first journalistic piece. I called the Carmichael Water District and made an appointment for an interview. Nobody questioned or asked to see my credentials.

Never on Monday, or on any other day. This is the prospect for outside watering facing homeowners in the Carmichael Water District if the worst possible scenario occurs this summer. Under the District's current conservation plan, odd-numbered residences may water on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday while even-numbered residences may water on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. No watering is permitted on Monday. In the face of California's fifth year of drought, contingency plans to be presented by District General Manager Roger McGinty to the Board of Directors call for no outside watering on three days of the week under alert conditions, no watering on five days under emergency conditions and under crisis conditions no watering at all. Outside watering accounts for 60% of the District's water use.

Mr. McGinty cautions that all of this is tentative since much depends on the recommendations of the state task force recently appointed by Governor Wilson. The Carmichael Water District serves some 35,000 customers in an area of 5,412 acres. Almost 70% of Carmichael's water comes from the American River. The remaining 30% is provided by 12 wells. Mr. McGinty has proposed to the State Water Resources Control Board that if it is necessary to temporarily limit water from the American River that this be no more than a reduction of 70%. This would require the District to rely on water from the wells for most of its supply and require a 30% reduction in water use.

Carmichael's conservation program resulted in a 6% reduction in use for 1990. During the summer two water patrol persons responded to water waste complaint calls and also patrolled the District's service area during peak watering periods, between 4 PM and 9 PM.

This year the District plans to hire two patrol persons again and possibly more. The District will also rely on its field crews to monitor water use. Under a resolution adopted by the Board of Directors in 1986 water users found violating the requests of the District may be issued one warning, after which the District has the right to disconnect service and require a restoration charge of $35. If there are continued violations the District has the right to install a device restricting the flow of water to the premises. Last year, out of 696 warnings not one service was shut off.

Mr. McGinty does not believe that meters are necessarily effective in reducing water use. He believes that consistency in conservation measures among the various water districts, as in the days when outside watering is permitted, will be most helpful. Getting the message to water users is essential and media publicity is important in achieving this. The Carmichael Water District plans repeated mailouts to its customers and has already discussed water conservation in its newsletter Water Ways. If California's unprecedented draught continues it will be hard for anyone not to realize that, as a recent edition of the newsletter puts it, eliminating water waste in Carmichael is an absolute necessity.

RUSSIANS IN CARMICHAEL

My second story, which was put on the front page. I wanted my stories to have a catchy beginning.

"you say potato,

and I say kahrtophil,

you say tomato,

and I say parmeedohry …"

The house guests being hosted by Sue Foster and her family in their Carmichael residence are somewhat out of the ordinary, a Russian family from Moscow consisting of Arsen Katinov, his wife Svetlana and their 14-year old son Omar. Sue is herself not quite the typical suburban housewife, being an art therapist and teacher with a doctor's degree in education and a member of Grandmothers for Peace, although not a grandmother.

It was on a Grandmothers for Peace tour of the Soviet Union in 1989 that Sue and her 7-year old daughter Mignon stayed in Moscow with Arsen's parents and Omar became the Fosters' interpreter. During a meeting of the Soviet Peace Committee in Moscow Omar's grandfather said, We have Twin Cities between nations to break down the barriers and promote mutual understanding…why not Twin Families? This remark led to the coming of the Katinov family to Carmichael.

In the fall of 1990 the Mission Avenue Open School in Carmichael, which the Fosters two daughters (Mignon and Genevieve) attend, planned a month-long study of the Soviet Union and Omar was invited to participate. Omar's parents did not want him to come alone and so in an unprecedented action the U.S. Embassy granted visas to all three Kitanovs. On September 22, 1990 they arrived at Sacramento Metro Airport to be greeted by the Fosters, their host family, and about fifty people from the Mission Avenue School.

The Kitanovs, apart from their being visitors from Russia, are by any measure an unusual family. They are all gifted musically. Arsen is an architect and artist and a former professional musician who plays the guitar. Svetlana is a graduate of the Language Institute of Tashkent, Usbeckistan and teaches English. Omar composes songs, plays the piano and other instruments, sings and is also a computer buff. Above all, they are a family which has devoted itself to the cause of international understanding and world peace.

Since arriving in Carmichael, the Kitanovs, in addition to participating in the Mission School project, have appeared at numerous school assemblies, at an assembly of San Juan School District principals, at American River College and Sacramento State, the Sacramento Art Education Conference and at the annual United Nations dinner in Sacramento. At this dinner the Kitanovs were greeted by Mayor Anne Rudin and given a letter of welcome saying, Through the exchange of family visits between our two countries we can lean first-hand about each other's cultures, thereby promoting greater international understanding and peace.

In a typical performance, the family sings a variety of songs in both Russian and English. These are peace songs, some composed by themselves, Russian folk songs and contemporary Russian songs as well. They also illustrate the cultural diversity of the Soviet Union, which is composed of fifteen countries, by showing a variety of dolls in native costumes.

The Kitanovs discuss cultural aspects of the Soviet Union, Svetlana teaches some Russian words and they answer questions about Russia from the audience. One question asked by each school assemby is whether there is Nintendo in the Soviet Union. (The answer is No, or at least not yet). Other questions are about food in Russia, dress and schools, especially differences from American schools.

Why did Omar want to come to this country? He likes to travel, he wanted to meet American children and he wanted to practice and improve his English. He plans to become a diplomat. Omar is attending the Mission Open School. In his Russian school, he says, they wore uniforms, had longer hours and more homework and attended six days a week. One of the highlights of Omar's stay was a surprise party on his birthday, January 6th, given at the Foster home. His birthdays were celebrated in Russia, he said, but never with a surprise party.

Omar recently won first prize in a PTA contest with a song celebrating international friendship. Two of his musical efforts have attracted the interest of Les Lehr, a music professor at American River College, who would like to transpose them into compositions for a jazz band. As evidence that he has other than musical talents, he entered a Bel-Aire pumpkin decorating contest and won first prize by decorating his pumpkin Russian style.

The Twin Families project has not been all smooth sailing. The Foster household, in addition to their two daughters, includes two dogs, two cats, three baby African gray parrots, three doves, several fish and one bunny. Sue Foster is by her own admission not Carmichael's neatest housekeeper while Svetlana Katinov likes everything neat and orderly. She likes all of the Foster pets, she says, but likes them more when they are out in the yard and not inside the house. There have also been misunderstandings because of the language differences despite the Katinovs' ability in English. (These have usually been resolved by Omar). Nevertheless, the two families have learned to live together and the good that has come out of their effort far outweighs such minor difficulties.

The Kitanovs are here on visitor visas, which expired February 19th. Both families would like to extend the Kitanovs' stay for at least another five months, past July 11th, which is Arsen's birthday. To accomplish this they need to obtain a professional status (or H-1) visa. This requires a bachelor's degree, employment for Arsen and Svetlana and exceptional talent and training status for Omar).

At present, Svetlana is waiting for a copy of her diploma, which then must be verified. She has been invited to teach Russian to gifted students, teachers and to provide private tutoring. A number of schools have expressed interest in having Arsen and his family perform for them, at $200-350 a performance. Omar has received offers from several professional experts to provide musical training to supplement the tutoring he receives from his father. Although the Kitanovs would seem to be eminently qualified for professional status visas there is the paperwork to consider and Sue Foster estimates their chances at 50-50.

Why do the Kitanov and Foster families want to extend their Twin Families endeavor? Both families feel that, having come togher through the early stages (the first two chapters, says Sue Foster), the best is yet to come. Arsen would like to collaborate in puppetry and graphic art projects with Sue's husband Gary, also an artist. The families would like to complete a videograph of their experience. They would also like to write a book, which would be called Magic Moments. An accidental meeting in a music store which led to Omar's playing piano with the leader of a blues band at a performance at UC Davis is one example given by Sue Davis of such a magic moment.

Arsen says that in any case this endeavor will continue for the rest of his life. He would like to have more people involved in Twin Families. They have shown that families from two different countries can live together in one home. He hopes that this home can serve as a model for the entire earth, to show that people of all different nationalities can live together.

THE CITY AS AN OUTDOOR GALLERY

In my early days at Suttertown News I became a columnist. In all, I wrote seven columns. This is the first.

I was recently invited to the Suttertown News office to do some important editorial work. After I finished sweeping the floor and emptying out the wastepaper baskets, editor Tim Holt said he had another important assignment for me. We need a column on interesting things people who work downtown can do on their lunch hour.

In Sacramento? What interesting things?

How should I know? Then, pointing his finger at the door and in a voice Stanley's editor must have used when sending him to Africa to find Livingston, he said, Go out there and find them. So here goes:

Downtown Sacramento is filled not only with shoppers, strollers and state workers but with public art works. What is a public art work? Sculptures and paintings come first to mind but these are not all. Carvings, mobiles, photographs, frescoes, mosaics, artwork integrated into the facades of buildings, ornamental gardens, grillwork and even benches can be works of public art. So all of us may have been walking past public art works during our lunch hours and not knowing it.

This is about to change. The Art in Public Places Program of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission has been sponsoring walking tours of public art on Saturdays since January. Now they will be starting lunchtime walking tours on weekdays.

The first tours will be Wednesday, April 17 and Friday, April 19, from noon to 1 PM. The tours will start from the steps of City Hall, 915 I Street, and will be conducted by trained docents. They will include Plaza Park, the County Jail and Court Building and Riverside Plaza on I Street and the County Parking Garage and the County Recorder's Office on F Street.

We urge everyone interested (or even curious) to take these tours. A good public response will ensure that the weekday tours are continued on a regular basis. The tours will be informal and you are encouraged to take a brown bag lunch so that you can eat while walking and viewing. If you want more information, call the Arts Commission at 449-5558.

Consuela Underwood, Coordinator of the Art in Public Places Program, and staff members Robi Holmen and Kathy Gee were kind enough to provide me with advice and material that enabled me to take a self-conducted preview of the tour.

The art work on the outside of the County Jail and Court Building facing I Street consists of 8,000 feet of painted porcelain enamel on steel panels and is called Rubicon. It represents the Rubicon River in California and also relates to the river of the same name between Italy and Gaul which Julius Caeser crossed.

Viewing it from the other side of I Street you get a sense of water coming down from the mountains and are transported, at least for a few moments, away from the noise and traffic of downtown Sacramento. The artist is William Allan, who teaches at Sacramento State.

I didn't go inside the building to see the interior art work called Awaiting Court because there is a security desk and certain of my past activities which need not be gone into here have made me wary of such things but the description sounds intriguing. There is a 23' foot aquarium screen made of steel, slate and glass, the aquarium being a 12' salt water tank, plus two lozenge-shaped planter benches with ficus trees inside them. The artist is Doug Hollis. This work alone should make you want to take one of the Art Commission's tours.

The art work on the County Parking Garage at 7th and F streets is an untitled mural 65' by 30' that spans the five levels of the garage. It's called a fool the eye mural, which gives the illusion that layers of the building have been cut away. The best place to view it is from across F street. From here it appears that a man and a woman are seated on stone benches in front of the building and are looking up at the mural. Actually, as I found out when I crossed the street and inspected it closely, everything—man, woman and benches—is painted on the building. The artist is John Pugh, a graduate of Chico State.

Three pieces, called Light Rhythms, Phase I, II and III, are in the Riverview Plaza building, 6001 I Street. Phase II which, according to the official literature, symbolizes energy and aspirations, hangs over the center of the building lobby. It consists of five curved fiberglass pieces of different colors. You can sit in the lobby and let your mind wander over its contours while temporarily forgetting the work waiting for you back in the office. The artist is Karen Fenley, who graduated from UC Davis and Sac State.

Two long-standing Sacramento sculptures which most of us have probably seen, if only in passing, are the William Coleman Memorial and the Andrew Steven Memorial in Plaza Park. The first is the sculpture and fountain (presently dry) in the center of the park. It's dedicated to William Coleman, a prominent 19th century banker. The artist is Ralph Stackpole, a Bay Area sculptor who also created a sculpture in William Land Park and a fresco in Sacramento City College's auditorium.

The second, the statue of Andrew Steven, a 19th-century-looking gentleman, is on the south side of the park facing J Street. It was erected to a Friend of Labor by his Co-Workers in November 28, 1889. The artist is Alan Weinert.

That concluded my tour. It took about an hour and in addition to getting my day's exercise and working up an appetite (I didn't take a brown bag lunch with me) I ended with a greater appreciation of the public art works which can be seen in downtown Sacramento. Those of you who take the Art Commission tours will undoubtedly be much more enlightened and, once more, we urge everyone to do so.

Is Tim Holt right? Are there interesting things to see and do in downtown Sacramento just waiting to be discovered? If you know of any, have heard of any or have ideas about interesting things you'd like to see, please write to Martin Green, Suttertown News, 1731 L Street, Sacramento, CA 95814.

Next column: 7 things (at least) that you can see or do in the State Capitol and State Library without taking the tour or reading a book.

LUNCHTIME CRUISING

At the end of the first City Adventures column I promised that the next column would reveal seven (at least) things to do in the State Capitol and State Library without taking the tour or reading a book.

The State Capitol is such a familiar Sacramento landmark that, except for tourists, most people probably don't give it a second look. When I worked downtown, doing my 25-year stint as a state worker so I could qualify to write about City Adventures, I sometimes went to the Capitol on business, usually to hear a legislative committee turn down a budget request. It never occurred to me to go there for pleasure.

The State Library is across 10th Street from the State Capitol and is a formidable-looking building, something like a post office. I've never heard anyone say, Let's cruise the State Library at lunch and see what's happening.

Yet a little investigation, especially after talking with the people who work in these two places, showed that each is well worth a lunch time look. If you go into the main entrance on the west side of the Capitol and then turn right you'll find an exhibit on the 1906 and 1988 San Francisco earthquakes. The exhibit, which features a 15-minute video on the 1988 earthquake, will run through June 30th. It is also a good example of what Rob Wood, Curator of the Capitol Museum, says is the intent of the Capitol exhibits, which is to show the California experience, past and present.

There is also a seismograph in this room (provided by the Division of Mines and Geology of the Department of Conservation) for those who want to see if any earthquakes are occurring in California during their lunch hour.

If you turn left you'll find a small but interesting photography exhibit. It's called New Visions: Contributions by California Photographers, 1860-1960. The photographs are from the State Library collection and the photographers include Ansel Adams.

The Capitol regularly has exhibits of local artists in the sixth floor cafeteria. These are arranged by Carolyn Negrete, who operates the cafeteria, and her associate, Terry Hensley, an artist and art instructor. They run from four to six weeks.

When I visited the cafeteria, there was an excellent exhibit of oil paintings by David Sherrod, who received a bachelor's degree in Art from Sacramento State in 1974. However, there will be a new exhibit of watercolors by Sacramento artist Ellen Van Fleet starting May 6 and running through June 15. Ms. Negrete believes these will feature landscapes around the Capitol. You can of course combine lunch with art appreciation in the sixth floor cafeteria, which features six blends of Java City coffee.

After looking at all these exhibits, you can descend to the basement and relax with a 10-minute movie on the restoration of the Capitol. This movie is shown every 15 minutes. You can then go to the room next door and absorb some more Capitol history, such as the news that Berkeley launched a drive to become the state capital in 1907, which was rejected by the voters in 1908. The reader may conjecture on how California history might have been changed if the vote had gone the other way. You can also find out in this exhibit the difference between Capitol and Capital, something to quiz your fellow workers about when you return after lunch.

It is now time to cross the street to the State Library. There is regularly an exhibit on the third floor of the library, which can be reached by elevator or stairs. These exhibits are arranged by Gary Kurutz, Head of Special Collections for the State Library.

The exhibit I saw, called Rival Cities: California's Two California Panama Pacific Expositions, 1915-16, will no longer be there by the time this column appears. Instead, Mr. Kurutz told me, there will be two exhibits. One, in the California Room, will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first overland trip to California. This was made by wagon train in 1841 by the John Bidwell-John Bartleson party. The exhibit will consist of diaries, guide books, and maps and will also contain the newspaper carried on the first Pony Express ride, from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento in 1860.

The second exhibit, in the halls of the third floor, will be of 19th century certificate art, i.e., membership certificates issued by fire-fighting, vigilante and patriotic groups as well as early stock certificates. These certificates, Mr. Kuruttz says, are engraved with mining and other Western scenes and have become collector items.

The Microform Reading Room, reached through the California Room, houses extensive files of California and other newspapers on microfilm. If you'd like, you can view issues of the Sacramento Union going back to 1851 or of the Sacramento Bee going back to 1857. And if you want to go back even further you can look at issues of the London Times going back to 1785.

The front page of the first issue of the Union, March 19, 1851 and costing five cents, features a piece called Recollections of Home, which laments the passing of the Indians. It says: But where is the Indian warrior now? where are the clustering cabins? the bark canoe? The land of his fathers has passed from him and the invader slumbers on his grave. (It was not written by Kevin Costner).

The first issue of the Bee, February 3, 1857, reports that a Senator Wilson submitted a petition from his district asking for a $5,000 appropriation to defray the expense of breaking up an organized band of robbers and murderers which infects the lower counties of the state. So crime is not a new problem in California.

For readers having historical interests of a different kind, I'm informed that the Microform Reading Room also contains a microfilm copy of the original Playboy magazine, with a picture of Marilyn Monroe. On this high note, it seems appropriate to conclude our lunchtime tour of the State Capitol and State Library.

Thanks for their assistance go to State Capitol Museum staff members Michelle Edwards and Sally Smock and to State Library staffer Margaret Winebrenner, as well as to all those others whose names I didn't get and who gave me information, steered me in the right direction, showed me how to read microfilm, etc.

The lunch time walking tours of public art, which were described in the first City Adventures column, are being resumed by the Metropolitan Arts Commission. The next two tours will be on May 23d and June 6th, both Thursdays. They will then be given on the second Thursday of succeeding months. The tours will start at 12:15 PM from City Hall, 915 I Street, and will last about an hour. We urge everyone to take advantage of these lunch time tours. For more information, call the Arts Commission at 449-5558.

Once again, readers who are aware of any interesting things to see or do in downtown Sacramento are asked to write to Martin Green, Suttertown News, 1731 L Street, Sacramento CA 95814.

YOUR FAVORITE ADVENTURES

Since the last City Adventures column I've been in Ashland, Oregon, catching up on my Shakespeare, instead of cruising the streets of Sacramento. So for this month's column, I went downtown to ask people who work there what's happening, what they like to do at lunchtime, what other relevant things are on their minds. Here's what I came up with:

I stopped in the Bonney & Gordon store at the Downtown Plaza and talked to store manager Don Kinnick. Don had nothing of interest about his lunchtime activities as he always stays inside to be available to customers. Not a very promising start, but then Don told me he was president of the Downtown Plaza Association. He was quick to inform me that the $108 million Downtown Plaza renovation will get underway in January and that the result will be an enclosed shopping center which will rival the new Arden Fair.

At Don's suggestion, I went across the mall to see Marilyn Hirschi, Assistant Manger of Marketing for Downtown Plaza Associates. Marilyn called my attention to the stage now in the center of the Plaza where the fountain used to be and told me that plans are underway for lunchtime events there. One possibility is to have a day for amatures to perform; another is to have a day for children performers. There is a peach party planned for Wednesday, August 7th, which will feature canning demonstrations and all the recipes for peaches anyone ever wanted to have.

Marilyn is also on the executive board of the Sacramento Downtown Partnership, which is planning a festival in the Downtown Plaza on September 29th. At this festival, various ethnic groups and associations will have food, crafts and entertainment. Marilyn's own favorite lunchtime activity is to shop at Downtown Plaza shops; she feels guilty when she shops elsewhere.

Ron Anderson, manager of the Florsheim Shoe store in the Plaza, and Phil Kennedy, assistant manager, are also excited over the planned renovation. Ron, who's been in Sacramento for only eight months, likes to lunch at the Riverview Market at Sixth and I Streets. He says it has great deli, salads and pastries. He thinks downtown Sacramento has plenty of sandwich places but wishes it had more restaurants.

Phil, who has worked downtown for over two years, prefers the Chinese food at the Jade Gardens, which he says is the best in the area. The Mandarin specials are cooked fresh daily, with the brandyfried chicken being his favorite.

I then talked to two young ladies having their lunch on one of the Plaza benches. Annette Siler and her friend, who preferred to remain anonymous, are both state workers. They'd walked over from their office at Seventh and P Streets to have an outdoor lunch and, as they said, to see what was going on at the Plaza. The lunch was from the grocery store inside the Plaza and looked pretty good. Annette and friend also like Hannibal's for lunch. Other than eating, they like shopping downtown and also do their bank business at lunch, probably to get money for their shopping.

Having lunch in the shade of one of the Plaza trees was a group of seven people, who identified themselves as burnt-out State environmental specialists. (This was at the height of the State budget crisis, which may have accounted for the burnt-out feeling). One of the group, Chuck Vogelsang, likes to bicycle to Old Sacramento during his lunchtime. He'd like to see more parking downtown for bicycles and, having had two stolen, more security for them.

Everyone in the group liked to go to the Farmer's Market (Wednesdays in Plaza Park). A favorite place to eat is the Muffin Shop on Ninth Street, which features a chocolate truffle muffin filled with chocolate chips and walnuts. They also liked the cinimmon rolls from Spinners inside the Plaza.

Getting away from Downtown Plaza, Judy Putman, still another state worker (they're everywhere), spends her lunchtime searching the area between S and U and 11th and 14th streets for what she calls hole-in-the-wall but good eating places. One of these is Dominick's, which features fried cauliflower in pita bread. There is also a Chinese delicatessen at 11th and U streets and another Chinese place at 12th and T which serves a dim sum.

Further out, Pamela Dupzyk, who works at the Lioness book store at 2444 J Street and lives downtown, likes to get sandwiches for lunch at Blake's on H Street. She also likes to shop at the Mixed Bag on K Street, which sells cards, cooking and bath supplies.

Sylvia Smock, a guide at the State Capitol, likes to go across the street to the State Library at lunchtime and look at tapes of old Sacramento newspapers. She does this as research for a book she's writing on ghosts in the state legislature. (I knew something was going on there.)

Robi Holmen, who works for the Sacramento County Arts Commission, is another one who faithfully goes to the Farmer's Market every Wednesday. She also likes to go to the Woolworth's on K Street Mall at lunchtime for the soup, the potatoes in skin and the people-watching.

Diana Walker-Smith, who is coordinator of the City Life program for the Arts Commission, likes to eat outside in Plaza Park. Not surprisingly, she also plans to go to the City Life events in the park.

The first of this season's events, Diana told me, will be the Mariachi Zacatocas band on Wednesday, July 24th. The next, on Wednesday, July 31st, is called John Heartsman's Night Feast and is blues music. Heartsman is a native Sacramenten who has toured with Ray Charles and is in the blues Hall of Fame.

Scheduled for Wednesday, August 7th, is the California Brass and for Friday, August 9th, the Les Moncada Salsa and Latin Jazz. All of these City Life performances in Plaza Park are from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM. The City Life program, by the way, will go through September 6th.

All in all, people seem to be finding